NJ man convicted in slaying schoolteacher wife

HACKENSACK (AP) — Prosecutors say a man who fatally beat and stabbed his schoolteacher wife inside their northern New Jersey home has been convicted on murder charges.

Peter Shanley of Dumont faces life in prison after a Bergen County jury reached its verdict Wednesday. Their deliberations lasted less than six hours.

Defense lawyers had argued the 60-year-old Shanley was overwhelmed by passion provocation when he attacked Debra Shanley in April 2010 and deserved a lesser sentence. They claimed that in the months before the attack, his wife had unexpectedly joined a motorcycle club and began drifting away from him.